Aftermarket

Ferro Says Bar Raised on Safety

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has "raised the bar on safety," said Administrator Anne Ferro, and those fleets "that don't want to be in compliance are the ones we want to take off the road."

Ferro was speaking to a standing-room-only crowd of attendees at PeopleNet's annual user's conference held in Boca Raton, Fla., Aug. 6-8.

She provided an update on what fleets can expect in the months ahead in the way of new regulations and changes to existing rules.

Ferro said the agency saw a reduction in violations, which she attributes to the investment carriers make to manage their safety performance, citing technologies fleets have deployed in recent years to monitor driver behavior.

As for the new hours-of-service regulations, she said, "we have a rule in place."

She noted that today, there is not a rule mandating electronic onboard recorders, referencing the proposed rule the agency had withdrawn after a successful lawsuit by the Owner-Operators Independent Drivers Association, but she said the agency was reworking it and would introduce a revised rule. It's on target to do that in early 2013, she said.

It will take about a year before the agency posts more modifications addressing the contentious issue of crash accountability.